Ralph Waldo Emerson: Visionary Architect of America's Literary Renaissance IJES 2022

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Visionary Architect of America's Literary Renaissance

 

Nibir K. Ghosh

 

A new world swam within the vision of civilized man when, on October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus, and his crew sighted land after a perilous voyage of six weeks across the Atlantic in search of the fabled Indies. While discovering the new world, perhaps by default, five centuries and thirty years ago, Columbus may not have imagined that he was setting his foot on what would be, in due course of time, the most advanced nation and the most powerful democracy in the world. In a span of over two centuries and a half after Columbus’s discovery, America was predominantly known as the cluster of thirteen English Colonies, each one independent in terms of economic as well as political governance but still owing common allegiance to the King of England and observing all traditions and customs essentially British in nature and origin. The idea of America as a nation evolved when these thirteen Colonies, hitherto loosely bound by common economic interests, joined hands to oppose the imposition of the “Stamp Act” by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765 on the Colonies. The act of joint rebellion by the Colonies became evident with what is historically known as the “Boston Tea Party,” an incident that saw the Americans throwing (instead of unloading) 342 chests of tea belonging to the East India Company into the Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773. This unprecedented act of protest set in motion the great American Revolution against what they called the tyrannical rule of the King of England. In the realm of thought and ideas, a large share of motivating the rebellion must go to the Englishman Thomas Paine whose 47-page pamphlet entitled Common Sense (1776) addressed to the “Inhabitants of America” gave the clarion call for severing their ties with the mother country:

Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each other, reverse the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to different systems: England to Europe, America to itself. (Paine 69)

According to Susan Manning, Common Sense “made instantaneous and innumerable converts to the cause of American independence” and The American Revolution became “the country’s political Great Awakening.” (Manning 21)

With the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 the thirteen united Colonies were absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown and were given the status of free and independent States which came to be known as the United States of America. The Declaration of Independence recommended the dissolution of all political connection between America and Great Britain. Bound no longer either by political or emotional ties with Britain, the citizens became an integral part of the newly constituted American nation, a feeling that found beautiful expression in Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Gift Outright,” which the poet himself recited at the Inauguration Ceremony of the 35^th U.S. President John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961: “Such as we were we gave ourselves outright/To the land vaguely realizing westward/ But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,/ Such as she was, such as she would become.” (Frost 246)

It is evident that the Declaration of Independence gave the United State of America the freedom to assume the separate and equal station of a nation independent in all respects—social, economic, and political. But the fact remains that in the sphere of literature and culture this autonomy remained in abeyance for over half-a-century with independent America continuing to speak to the world in the language of the English tradition.

Thomas A. Bailey mentions in his book The American Pageant how a British critic questioned the very existence of an indigenous literature: “’Who reads an American Book?’ sneered the British critic Sydney in 1820. The painful truth was that the nation’s rough-hewn, pioneering civilization gave little encouragement to ‘polite’ literature. Much of the reading matter was imported or plagiarized from England.” (Bailey 371) Similarly, communicating with The Tribune, Margaret Fuller wrote from Rome in 1847: “Although we have an independent political existence, our position towards Europe, as to literature and the arts, is still that of a colony, and one feels the same joy here that is experienced by the colonist in returning to the parent home.” (Spender 7)

These observations do indicate that the shadow of the colonial existence continued to haunt the American writer whose preference for the British/European tradition did not seem to wane. However, it is significant to point out that a few exceptions like Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Washington Irving (1783-1859) and James Fennimore Cooper (1789-1851) stood out in a marked way. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1818) was one of the first books by an American author to be taken seriously by Europeans. In Washington Irving’s writings “Europe was amazed to find at last an American with a feather in his hand, not in his hair.” (Bailey 371) Likewise, Thackeray spoke about James Fennimore Cooper: as “the first ambassador whom the New World of letters sent to the old.” (Bailey 371)

Notwithstanding the isolated instances cited above, the emergence of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) as the herald of intellectual and social individualism and as one of the founding fathers of the American “Transcendentalist” Movement decisively impacted the opening of the American mind to a floodgate of ideas unprecedented in the short history of the new nation. In his “Introduction” to Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Signet Classic edition), Charles Johnson emphatically remarks: “His journals, letters, poetry and addresses are…the vivid and invaluable transcript of one of the nineteenth-century’s finest, most cultivated minds as it grappled with perennial, social and theological dilemmas shirted in the specificity of a young nation confronting the all to obvious failures of its Revolution.” (Johnson ix) Johnson lauds Emerson’s ability to combine “the historic glories of the old” and “the rich possibilities of the new” to probe and explore the intractable belief in “infinitude of the private man.” (Johnson ix)

Emerson was born on May 25, 1803 in Boston, Massachusetts to Ruth Haskins, daughter of a prosperous Boston distiller, and Reverend William Emerson, a Unitarian Minister of Boston’s First Church. Ralph was only 8 years old when his father died. After his early education in various schools in Boston, Emerson entered Harvard College at the age of fourteen in 1817. Among the formative influences that shaped Emerson’s restless mind was that of his aunt Mary Moody Emerson, who “with her Calvinist outlook, early individualism—with its belief that the individual both has power and responsibility—and hardworking nature clearly inspired Emerson throughout his life.” (Rockefeller) Though an unremarkable student, Emerson began writing his journal, which he called “The Wide World,” a habit which was to last for most of his life. (Rockefeller) Distressed by the mediocrity of talents and conditions around him, Emerson joined the Harvard Divinity School in 1825 and two years later in 1827 he became the Unitarian minister of the Second Church of Boston. He married Ellen Louisa Tucker in 1829, a lady whom he deeply loved. Unfortunately, the death of Ellen in 1831 at the age of nineteen left him deeply desolate. Disenchanted with the Church that followed weather-beaten rituals, he left the pastorate in September 1832.

Emerson’s visit to Europe in 1833 brought him into contact with William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Stuart Mill, and Thomas Carlyle. Carlyle introduced Emerson to Oriental thought and gifted him the Gita. Inspired by the romantic individualism of these intellectuals, he returned to the U.S., married Lydia Jackson and settled down in Concord, Massachusetts in 1835. He began writing and preaching in his new avatar as “The Sage of Concord” and undisputed leader of “Transcendentalism.” The Transcendental Movement primarily rested on the belief that “truth ‘transcends’ the senses: it cannot be found by observation and reflection alone. The highest truth comes to light through inner faculties that every man possesses. It must be sought by permitting the individual to follow his divine instinct.” (Bailey 372)

Inspired by the ideas of individualism, self-reliance and self-culture, Emerson began in right earnest to articulate his passionate rebellion against the orthodox and the traditional. He addressed audiences throughout New England, challenging the status quo and speaking  vehemently in favor of intellectual independence of both the individual and the nation. Brian Harding notes in American Literature in Context – 1830-1865: “Emerson deplored the lack of faith in contemporary literature and clearly implied that his work expressed his belief in what he called the ‘pristine sacredness of thought’ marked by spontaneity and independence of all human authority.” (Harding 42)

Emerson’s address “The American Scholar” delivered by him on August 31, 1837 before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard literally took the Harvard academic world by storm. Contrary to the expectations of the audience, who came to hear the usual run-of-the mill stuff like glorification of Harvard tradition and values, Emerson simply shook them out of their complacence with his spontaneous and bold utterances. At the very outset, he reminded them that the time had come “when the sluggard intellect of this continent will look from under its iron lids and fill the postponed expectation of the world with something better than the exertions of mechanical skill. Our day of dependence, our long apprenticeship to the learning of other lands, draws to a close.” (TAS 225) He reminded the erudite audience to give up relying on “sere remains of foreign harvests” (TAS 225) and construct, through the depths of their own creative instincts, a new era of action, events and songs that would endure for a thousand years. He emphasized that he did not view the American Scholar as a member of a particular profession. To him the American Scholar was exclusively “Man Thinking” and not simply “the parrot of other men's thinking.” (TAS 226-227)

The first and the most important prerequisite for a true scholar, Emerson pointed out, was to remain connected to Nature and learn the boundless wisdom it offers: “There is never a beginning, there is never an end, to the inexplicable continuity of this web of God, but always circular power returning into itself.” (TAS 227) According to him, the ancient precept "Know thyself," and the modern precept, "Study nature," (TAS 228) blend into a single maxim. Once the Scholar learns to appreciate the value of his own inner divinity, he will find it convenient to move beyond dogmas and established principles to create what is of value to entire mankind. Books have their own inestimable value but, warns Emerson, “Man Thinking must not be subdued by his instruments … Books are for the scholar's idle times. When he can read God directly, the hour is too precious to be wasted in other men's transcripts of their readings.”  (TAS 231)

Rather than remain a mere bookworm, Emerson stresses that “Man Thinking” must come to recognize the active soul that resides within him for “The soul active sees absolute truth and utters truth, or creates. In this action it is genius; … The book, the college, the school of art, the institution of any kind, stop with some past utterance of genius.” (TAS 230)

The aim of the Scholar, states Emerson, should be “to cheer, to raise, and to guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances.” (TAS 236) He must “relinquish display and immediate fame” and strive for the betterment of humanity in “poverty and solitude” by “exercising the highest functions of human nature.”  (TAS 237) At a time when people found unbounded joy in aspiring for material gains and the glory of power, Emerson boldly declared:

Men are become of no account. Men in history, men in the world of to-day, are bugs, are spawn, and are called "the mass" and "the herd." … Men such as they are very naturally seek money or power; and power because it is as good as money,—the "spoils," so called, "of office." And why not? For they aspire to the highest, and this, in their sleep-walking, they dream is highest. Wake them and they shall quit the false good and leap to the true, and leave governments to clerks and desks. (TAS 240)

Admonishing the seekers of power and material wealth, Emerson proclaimed his marked preference for creating an indigenous literature that talked not about kings and generals but of the simple annals of “the poor, the feelings of the child, the philosophy of the street, the meaning of household life,” (TAS 242) in fact anything that highlighted the life and predicament of the lowliest of the low. Having experienced a series of personal tragedies, he humbly stated, “I ask not for the great, the remote, the romantic; what is doing in Italy or Arabia; what is Greek art, or Provençal minstrelsy; I embrace the common, I explore and sit at the feet of the familiar, the low.” (TAS 242-243) To illustrate his admiration of literature grounded in reality of day-to-day living, he cited the creative renderings of writers like Goldsmith, Burns, Cowper, Goethe, Wordsworth, and Carlyle, writings that were “blood Warm.” (TAS 243)

Emerson reiterated the need for the American Scholar to evolve the concept of self-culture rather than be fascinated by the superstition of emulating something that was alien. Emerson attacked the mind of the educated American for pursuing the illusion of tradition which was no longer American in thought and feeling. Only if the artist would gaze within in self-reflection, he could visualize a real world which he could call his own. Instead of allowing himself to be awed by an alien culture, the American artist would be doing a greater service to both his art and the nation by discovering his own path that would be self-derived. Emerson was clearly in favour of the exercise of individual talent rather than the blind emulation of tradition in a spirit of conformity. Emerson urged the American Scholar to abandon the courtly muses of Europe and draw sustenance from the material available to him in his own soil for things near to one’s own area of experience are not less beautiful and wondrous than things remote. Emerson set his hopes on the “Thinking American” (that included the writer/artist/intellectual) who would be prepared to experiment in the new climate and new culture with whatever resources at his disposal to cultivate a tradition of his own. The primary responsibility of the American Scholar lay in understanding that the “world is nothing, the man is all … it is for you to know all; it is for you to dare all.” (TAS 244)

What one was required to do was explore the richness and the vastness of the Continent one had been inhabiting for so long instead of remaining stuck up as a Colonial construct in thought and spirit. Towards the end of his historic address, Emerson urged the “American Freeman” to give up being tame, imitative and timid and learn to develop the “confidence in the unsearched might of man.” (TAS 244) Once the Scholar becomes aware of the power that lies within him of this “unsearched might” and he learns to “plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him.” (TAS 245) The belief of Emerson in the emergence of such a “Thinking” Scholar who could forge the much-needed new American identity is evident from the optimistic conclusion to his unique address:

We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds. Then shall man be no longer a name for pity, for doubt, and for sensual indulgence … A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men. (TAS 245)

Based on the wisdom of his own inner reflections that led him to question authority wherever it tried to oppose the integrity of the individual soul, Emerson’s historic address “The American Scholar” laid the strong foundation for the dawn of America’s literary and cultural Renaissance, free from the fetters of Colonial moorings. James Russel Lowell saw the Address as “an event without any former parallel in our literary annals” while Oliver Wendell Holmes pronounced it as “our Intellectual Declaration of Independence.” (Spiller 372)

The echoes of his inspiring vision of intellectual independence that he espoused in “The American Scholar” can be heard in his numerous addresses, essays and journal entries. His exemplary utterances pertaining to the assertion of true individuality can be best seen in his essay “Self-Reliance.” In this work, Emerson states “imitation is suicide” (SR 267) and goes on to add that “the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato and Milton is that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men, but what they thought.” (SR 266-267)

As a prerequisite for Self-reliance, Emerson lays emphasis on the instinctive power of the individual soul: “The soul created the arts wherever they have flourished. It was in his own mind that the artist sought his model. It was an application of his own thought to the thing to be done and the conditions to be observed.” (SR 288) Instead of allowing himself to be awed by an alien culture, the American artist would be doing a greater service to both his art and the nation by discovering his own path that would be self-derived, he averred. The genius, according to him, was not someone who descended on the earth as an exceptional being but one who had faith in his own thought and who believed that “what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men.” (SR 266) The truly individual man, he says, “must be a nonconformist” and adds, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.” (SR 269)

His prescription for self-reliance was precise and unambiguous for he stated: “what I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” (SR 271) Yet, it must be borne in mind that “independence of solitude” does not imply that the “American Scholar” needs to work in isolation seated in ivory tower of self-beliefs. He must also essentially be a man of action endowed with the ability of transforming his ideas into concrete reality.

The immediate transformation that came in the wake of Emerson’s role as an architect of the American Renaissance can be visualized in the appearance of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass in 1855. Defying traditional approaches to creativity, Whitman sang of the power of the individual in glowing terms: “One’s-Self I sing, a simple separate person,/ Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse ... The Female equally with the Male I sing…/ Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,/ Cheerful, for freest action form’d under the laws divine,/ The Modern Man I sing.” (Whitman 3). Whitman defines true democracy where the consent of the governed is paramount to the relationship between an individual citizen and the nation he belongs to. His “En-Masse” is not a picture of a crowd but the configuration of an individual who must have the freedom to remain “a simple separate person.” Whitman’s creation in terms of both content and style immediately evoked the unqualified appreciation of Emerson.

It is of utmost importance to understand that Emerson’s appeal and renown was not limited to the nineteenth century alone. The enduring appeal of his life and work continues to exert its influence even in our own times. We are all familiar with the names of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Jack Dorsey among many others who have distinguished themselves as successful entrepreneurs and created a niche for themselves in the enviable international hall of fame and fortune after dropping out of prestigious universities and colleges in the U.S.A. What better proof can there be of the power of individuality than the contribution of the personalities mentioned above who defied the laws of imitation and conformity to grasp the quintessential wisdom propounded by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Every great man is unique. Abide in the simple and noble regions of the life, obey thy heart, and thou shalt reproduce the Foreworld again.” (SR 289)

 

WORKS CITED

Bailey, Thomas A. The American Pageant: A History of the Republic. Sterling Publishers (P) Ltd., 4^th Edition. (Indian), 1974.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self-Reliance.” (Abbreviated in the text as SR). Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ed. William H. Gilman. Signet Classic published by New American Library, 2003. pp. 266-292.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “The America Scholar.” (Abbreviated in the text as TAS). Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ed. William H. Gilman. Signet Classic published by New American Library, 2003. pp. 225-245.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ed. William H. Gilman with a New Introduction by Dr. Charles Johnson. Signet Classic published by New American Library, 2003.

Frost, Robert. “The Gift Outright.” The Pocket Book of Modern Verse. ed Oscar Williams. Washington Square Press, 1958.

Johnson, Charles. “Introduction” to Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ed. William H. Gilman. Signet Classic published by New American Library, 2003. pp. vii-xvi.

Manning, Susan. “Literature and Society in Colonial America.” American Literature Vol 9 Edited by Boris Ford. Penguin Books, 1991. pp. 3-26.

Paine, Thomas.  Common Sense.  Ed. Edward Larkin. Broadview Editions, February 14, 1776.

Rockefeller, Lily. “Biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Essayist.” ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/biography-of-ralph-waldo-emerson-4776020. Accessed May 25 2022.

Spender, Stephen. Love-Hate Relations: English and American Sensibilities. Random House, 1974.

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Eurasia Publishing House, 1970.

*Dr. Nibir K. Ghosh, UGC Emeritus Professor in the Department of English at Agra College, Agra, has been Senior Fulbright Fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA during 2003-04. He is Chief Editor, Re-Markings (www.re-markings.com), an international bi-annual journal of English Letters that has recently completed 21 years of its publication. He can be reached at ghoshnk@hotmail.com.

Abstract

Against the political, literary and cultural backdrop of America before and after the American Revolution that culminated in The Declaration of Independence signed by the founding fathers on July 4, 1776, the paper explores and examines the stellar role of Ralph Waldo Emerson in ushering the nineteenth century American Renaissance. The addresses of Emerson and his essays revolutionized contemporary American thought that had hitherto remained circumscribed by English traditions and practices of the erstwhile British Colonies. Emerson’s Address “The American Scholar” and his unique essay entitled “Self-Reliance,” that are elaborately dealt with in this paper, set the scene that emphasized the imperative of autonomy in ideas, thoughts and actions of both the individual and the nation. The enduring appeal and contemporary relevance of Emerson’s prophetic utterances have also been taken into account.

Keywords

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Declaration of Independence, American History, Transcendental Movement, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Autonomy

Published in The Indian Journal of English Studies Vol. LVIII. 2022, pp.61-72.

Copyright: Nibir K. Ghosh 2022

 

Words and Worlds: Presidential Address at 65th All India English Teachers Conference by Nibir K. Ghosh

                                       

                                               

 

                              Words and Worlds: Why Literature Matters

Nibir K. Ghosh

I deem it a privilege and pleasure to bring to this august gathering warmest good wishes from the city of the Taj and Sulahakul.

I am here to share with you a collage of impressions related to “Words and Worlds: Why Literature Matters.” It is often the general tendency to hold in low esteem what literature can offer us in terms of career opportunities in comparison to Science or Medicine. An astronomer once declared in a scientific meeting: “To an astronomer man is nothing more than an insignificant dot in the infinite universe.” Einstein, who was present at the meeting, is reported to have observed: “I have often felt that, but then I realize that the insignificant dot, who is man, is also the astronomer.”

In contemporary parlance, while the whole world was battling to contain the onslaught of COVID-19, the sale of Albert Camus’ The Plague sky-rocketed unprecedentedly. It was reported that in France, particularly, there were more queues of people outside book shops for a copy of Camus’ book than that of COVID-infected patients outside hospitals. Camus points out in the novel, "Each of us has the plague within him; no one, no one on earth is free from it." We can see in this statement a universal link that connects us to the plague and the chaos it created in ancient Thebes of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Alice Kaplan’s observation, “You need to read The Plague almost as though this novel were a vaccine — not just a novel that can help us think about what we're experiencing, but something that can help heal us," further advances the argument in favour of the value of literature. Not many of us may not be aware that the word “Robot” was not coined by any scientist but was used for the first time by a Czech playwright K. Kapek in his play R.U.R. way back in 1920.

In the context of the theme of the conference, our close proximity to the ancient Nalanda university assumes special significance. The ruins of Nalanda that today lie in splendour in spite of the passage of centuries remind us of the glorious seat of learning that had lured countless lovers of peace and harmony from various parts of the globe till the fanatic invader Bakhtiyar Khilji desecrated and vandalised in 1193 what had been a flourishing centre of Buddhist education for nearly seven centuries.

For the students of English literature such barbarous and uncivilized acts are not without parallel. On May 29, 1453, the Fall of Constantinople, brought to the fore similar scenes of desecration of innumerable libraries containing invaluable books and manuscripts belonging to the classical age. However, it is no less significant that the exodus of Greeks to Italy as a result of this event marked a turning point in the history of human civilization. The survivors who succeeded in escaping the brutality of the Turkish invasion carried with them whatever they could salvage from the libraries to keep alive the tradition of ancient learning. Such individual as well as collective acts of valour culminated in the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance.

The revival of classical learning brought to the fore the treasures of Greek and Roman literature. The plays, tragic and comic, emphasized the high moral order of the Athenian society. Respect for ethics and morality governed the unrestricted spirit of Athenian Democracy.

Renaissance Humanism emphasizes the dignity of man and his perfectibility as may be gathered from Shakespeare’s words in Hamlet: “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!” (Hamlet Act II sc. ii).

The spirit of human concern experienced a major paradigm shift with the French Revolution in 1789. Its ideals of “liberty, equality and fraternity” hugely impacted the creative process for writers and intellectuals of the time. William Wordsworth effusively declared: “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive. To be young was very heaven.” According to P.B. Shelley, a poet was a unique blend of the seer and the prophet, “an unacknowledged legislator of the world.”

The magnitude of the change wrought by the French Revolution can be seen from the way it provided the much-needed impetus to view humanity. Right from the time of the Greeks down to the Shakespearean era the raw material for literature was provided by people of noble birth: Kings, Lords, Princes, Generals etc. Though Thomas Gray had shown through his immortal “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” the imperative of diverting attention from the high and mighty to the “short and simple annals of the poor,” it was largely William Wordsworth who became the harbinger of celebrating the lives of common people. Consequently, the personas in his poetry are ordinary folks like the solitary Reaper, Leech Gatherer, Michael, Mathew, Lucy Gray, Beggars, Shepherds, dwellers in the Valley” etc.

In the wake of the industrial revolution and unprecedented technical advancement, new dimensions were added to the concept of humanism by focusing attention on “Man in the total, unfathomable inwardness of his being” and a new purpose that would give significance to man’s life.

During the intellectual disorder between the two great wars, cataclysmic changes in thought, ideas and action led to a pervasive sense of gloom that became the dominant mood in the realm of literature. However, W. H. Auden’s exhortation to writers, poets and intellectuals in the poem “In Memory of W. B. Yeats” signified the light of hope: “In the deserts of the heart/ Let the healing fountain start.”

Strange as it may seem, the dominant note in the Indian subcontinent was of coming to terms with the reality of a nation waking up from its centuries of slumber under one alien rule or the other. The Indian writer saw the opportunity for self-discovery—the strength of his own roots, his history and destiny—and for turning the English language into an anti-language experience to fight against the cultural imperialism of the British. Ruskin Bond’s statement in this context is significant: "It was thought that with the departure of the British, the English language was finished in India. In fact, just the opposite has happened. English has flowered in India to an extent it had never done in British times."

We all are aware that Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children was a seminal influence in triggering off the boom in Indian writing in English. Not only did Rushdie’s masterpiece overwhelm literary circles in the West and win the Booker Prize; its impact on Indian literature in English was also decisive. Blessed by Media hype and critical acclaim in the West and patronized by readers in their own country, they have earned for Indian English fiction an enviable distinction in terms of variety, value, interest and importance. Thanks to the opening up of branches by upmarket foreign publishers like Penguin, Picador, and Harper Collins, Indian writers in English today are hot property. Indian Writing in English, especially fiction, is now seen as the goose that lays golden eggs. What a leap it has been for Indian Writing in English from R. K. Narayan wishing to throw the manuscript of Swamy and Friends into the Thames, as he couldn't find any publisher abroad, to the writers who have bagged the Booker, the Pulitzer and other such fancy awards.

In locating humanistic trends in Indian Fiction in English, the contribution of women writers must come up for serious consideration in this conference. After Kamala Markandaya. Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande set the scene for understanding the human world in its various manifestations, the decade of the 1990s and after saw a virtual boom in women’s fiction. Awards and accolades starting with the Booker to Arundhati Roy for God of Small Things and the Pulitzer for Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies have compelled one to believe that women writers need no more moan the absence of “a room of one’s own” in the sphere of Indian fiction in English.

Among the challenges for the creative writer is the need to use English language with the same felicity and authenticity with which the Bhasha writers use their vernaculars. No amount of humanistic concern can evolve without the use of a language that makes genuine human speech resonate with the truly human thought. In this era of globalization, it is perhaps a unique phenomenon to see the underlying unity running through the literary productions of diverse nations and cultures.

Literature (or Literatures), therefore, must fruitfully visualize and recognize the social, psychological and humanistic needs of the free and equal partnership of people working together for the common good characterized by tolerance, respect for freedom, compassion and progressive democracy. The margin/centre binaries need to be explored to create a more equitable society.

From the above discussion about the impact of literature in shaping sensibilities and approaches to life in different times, climes and spaces, I find it pertinent to share with my young friends here my unforgettable meeting and conversation with two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, August Wilson, during my Fulbright Fellowship year at the University of Washington, Seattle. When I asked Wilson about his ‘drop-out’ experience at Gladstone school that had brought an end to his formal education, he wistfully responded: 

Yes. It was at Gladstone High School … when our history teacher asked us to write a paper on a historical personage. I chose Napoleon because Napoleon had always fascinated me as a self-made emperor. I prepared a twenty-page paper and titled it “Napoleon’s Will to Power.” My teacher refused to believe I had written the paper. I showed him the bibliography and the footnotes but he wasn’t convinced. He gave me a failing grade ‘E’ on the paper. I tore the paper up and threw it in the wastebasket and walked out of school. (Ghosh 2005: 24)

August Wilson admitted that the abrupt end of his formal education could not keep him away from his passion for reading. Inspired by his mother, August learned to read at the age of four and had his first library card when he was only five years old. His favourite haunt after he dropped out of school was the Carnegie Public Library where, through avid reading of works by black authors, he discovered the joy and terror of remaking the world in his own image through the act of writing. He recalled how his mother had so much wanted him to become a lawyer and added that, had she been alive, she would have been truly proud of her unschooled son being conferred with honorary degrees from numerous US universities including Harvard.

The story of Nani Palkhivala, who was designated as ‘God’s gift to India’ by C. Rajagopalachari, is no less inspirational in relation to the power of literature. Before becoming one of the most eminent jurists of international fame, Palkhivala was a student of English Literature aspiring to be an English teacher. As a student, his inherent love for literature is evident from his daily long visits to the Popular Book Depot (Lamington Road, Bombay) owned by Ganesh Ramarao Bhatkal who would encourage Palkhivala to read books for free for as long he wished to be there. In one of his statements Palkhivala records: “It was in those years that I read the lines of Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” which have always been etched in my memory: “that best portion of a good man's life,/ His little, nameless, unremembered, acts/ Of kindness and of love.” If mere three lines from a poem can instil in an individual the irresistible urge for “kindness and love,” the importance of literature need not be overemphasized. 

It may be debated whether the study of literature can bring one material affluence but it cannot be denied that literature can make us better human beings capable of compassion and understanding towards our less fortunate brethren. In the Zoo at Lusaka, Zambia, there is a cage where the notice reads “The world’s most dangerous animal.” Inside the cage there is no animal but a mirror where you see yourself. Literature, thus, has the power to transform a brute into a true human being. If you have read Acharya Sudarshan’s short story “Haar ki Jeet” you know what such a transformation can mean. As teachers of language and literature we ought to understand that “Animals can be trained, but only human beings can be educated.” Education of life, unlike education ending up in mere certificates or degrees, requires personal participation and inward appropriation.

Therefore, we must cultivate a life-long intellectual curiosity and make books and wisdom of the ages our lifetime companions. Literature can shed enormous light of awakening on our mind and heart provided we allow the windows of our mind to remain open rather than leaving them at the mercy of what has now become a popular term called “herd immunity.” More importantly, literature can contribute immensely in developing the skill of eloquence that can move individuals and crowds.

I am reminded about a song "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan, the Literature Nobel Laureate that became exceedingly popular during the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. in 1960s and remains so even today:

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
… … …

Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

The song, besides other things, sensitizes us about matters we see and tend to ignore and urges us to look within ourselves to understand with compassion and concern our responsibilities towards humanity at large. In a world caught up in the throes of crises generated by oppression, discrimination, fundamentalism and clash of civilizations, even a little poem can help us connect to people and events that we had hitherto pretended not to be aware of. In an age where cyberspace has literally shrunk the world in terms of both space and time it is imperative for the writer as well as the reader to understand that no policy of isolation is possible. In a global setting where we are subjected to the tsunami of 24X7 information, it is difficult for a sensitive person to pretend to remain unaware of the goings on in the rest of the world, be it the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the attack on the US Capitol, Black Lives Matter Movement, the death of Mahsa Amini in Iranian police custody or the brutal murder of Ankita Bhandari in Uttarakhand.

I, therefore, look forward to with optimism that the deliberations in this conference on numerous dimensions of Emergence, Essence and Presence of literature will provide a road map for the glorious future of English teaching and learning in India and elsewhere.

This Keynote talk will remain incomplete if I do not put on record my grateful thanks to the office bearers of The Association for English Studies of India for giving me the opportunity to address you all as President of this Conference. My thanks are also due to Nav Nalanda Mahavihara for organizing this historic conference with success.

A Big Thank You! One and All.

Copyright Nibir K. Ghosh November 2022

The Lure of Evil and the Power of Good : Dusshera & Vijay Dashami Greetings - Nibir K. Ghosh

 

The Lure of Evil and the Power of Good

Nibir K. Ghosh

Dear one and all on planet Earth!

It is a pleasure to greet you on this sacred day that celebrates the symbolic victory of good over evil. I call it symbolic because we are usually accustomed to see the regular triumph of the forces of evil over the invisible presence of the One we call the Almighty. Submerged in despair by the corrupted currents of the world wherein virtue is seen begging forgiveness of vice, we are often in a dilemma to pitch our faith in One who seems to be regularly eluding our pleas and calls for justice. The very fact that all around us we see the unholy but extremely powerful nexus between Lord Mammon and Lord Mafia, with all the instruments of evil at their command and succeeding in their nefarious designs, makes us patiently bear what Hamlet calls “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” in absolute helplessness.

God is and will remain invisible unless the good in each one of us comes out and compels us to stand with the good and the just without fear of any backlash whatsoever. Evil has a ready nexus because it offers lucrative packages of immediate encashment value whereas the good offers nothing lucrative in material terms. Yet, when a rare event that shows the ripple of good and justice triumphant and stirs the waves of amnesia in us, we momentarily start having doubts regarding our own stand and values in life. And when the moment passes away, we return to the imperatives of our day-to-day existence and leave all matters of struggle for justice to the care of a divine deity who is expected to return after a year to destroy a Ravana or Mahishasura.

Martin Luther King, Jr. had warned us that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Let us, therefore, arouse our conscience and look out for an opportunity to be with the right and not with might while there is time so that our singular act can instil faith in anyone who is battling against obnoxious designs of evil forces. Otherwise, if we wait for our turn and only think of action when we ourselves are faced with adversity, we shouldn’t be pained by the indifference of our friends who remain engaged in talking of justice and fair play on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Happy Dusshera! Shubho Vijaya Dashami!

 

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FOREWORD by Nibir K. Ghosh to Dancing the Liberated Lyre authored by Dr. Vibha Bhoot

 

About the Book

For ages, women have adopted the stereotypically scripted roles of a mother, sister, daughter, wife, daughter-in-law etc. She is blamed for not being able to fulfil any of the above and cursed and tortured for not being able to set into the slots made by the society and patriarchy.  Under slavery, the worst sufferers were women. Sexual exploitation and abuse made women vulnerable to change. In this book I talk about two Black women writers – Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker – and their protagonists who have waged an uphill battle to have their works taken seriously by scholars in the post-slavery period. These Black women writers themselves might have grown by the portrayal of such characters that struggle, suffer and ultimately stand triumphant among the dance of all the negative circumstances. The purpose of this study is to examine strong fictional women created by Black Women Writers and the characters who turn out to be strong self-determinant, socially interactive women. The Foreword by Prof. Nibir K. Ghosh, Chief Editor, Re-Markings, eloquently affirms the significance of the book for scholars and readers.

Author

Dr. Vibha Bhoot is Assistant Professor of English at Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur. Author of  Communication Techniques (2008), she has given extension lectures online and offline at many university campuses in India and abroad. She has published over 60 articles and scholarly essays on socio-cultural and feminist issues in prestigious national and international journals. During her twenty years of teaching at JNV University, Jodhpur she has simultaneously donned the responsibilities of a handicrafts’ business too. She has been in the editorial board of Jodhpur Studies in English, a Journal published by JNV University, Jodhpur.

 

 

 

'Words and Worlds' Essay Contest RGNUL-RE-MARKINGS Collaboration - Nibir K. Ghosh

 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Nibir K. Ghosh

While being invited by Dr. Navleen Multani to speak to the students of Rajiv Gandhi National Law University Punjab, Patiala on “Why Literature Matters in the Study and Practice of Law,” at a Symposium organized by the English Department of the University in association with RE-MARKINGS, I little imagined what an unforgettable experience it would turn out to be. The passion with which the students responded to the event was truly admirable considering the fact that they had little contact with literature till then. Their enthusiastic response triggered off the idea of the essay writing contest that brought to the fore their innate potential to give expression to the innermost feeling that had hitherto remained dormant. As an instance, I reproduce here a few lines from the essay of one participant:

Law, at the vantage point of a literary treasurer, is not at all restricted to authorities, bureaucracy, constitution, acts and punishments. It extends its flanks actually to the profound depths of the laws of the realms of one’s conscience; conscience that guides a man to glory and untold fortunes or to the infernos and darkest of abysses according to what a man thinks, wishes and acts. To be expressed in simple terms, the law perceptible as the constitution today is actually the tip of the iceberg; an iceberg that has conscience, the sense of right and wrong, internal justice that pacifies the soul and morality supporting it.

These impressions brought home to me what I had always believed in about the tremendous potential of young minds to absorb whatever they consider of value to them. In spite of numerous distractions to keep them ‘fruitfully’ engaged, if they could remain alert and glued to their computer screen for hours and listen as well as note with precision what they heard, and consequently, give lucid expression to what they truly felt about the relationship between literature and life, it is ample evidence of their willingness to believe that change always comes from within oneself.

On account of our own closed mindsets toward the younger generation, we are usually reluctant to give them any credit for interest, initiative or innovation in giving form and shape to the ideals of life and living. As educationists we often show our inclination for ‘holistic education’ and ‘thinking out of the box’ kind of cliches but never create the opportunity for a young mind to discover what lies deeply within his/her own self. We say we intend to encourage them to think ‘out of the box’ but we do not hesitate to make them remain submerged in and surrounded by so many piles and piles of boxes, filled with garbage and bookish nonsense, that leaves them with hardly any space for individual thought and initiative.

The emphasis of the participating students on “opportunities to ask questions and talk about real life examples” and their keenness to explore “the profound depths of the realms of one’s conscience” makes it evident that they are more serious about their role as responsible citizens than the self-proclaimed guardians of society.

It is no ordinary feat that over a hundred students submitted short essays on “Words and Worlds” in response to the announcement made by Re-Markings (co-sponsor to the event) to publish the best entries in the March 2022 issue of Re-Markings. I congratulate all the participants as well as the prize winners and hope that many among them will distinguish themselves as custodians of human values with the power of words to change worlds.

My grateful thanks to Prof. G. S. Bajpai, VC RGNUL, for felicitating the winners, to Dr. Navleen Multani for dreaming of an event of such significance Dr. Tanya Mander for her support, and to all participants who helped transform their teacher’s dream into reality.